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December 1, 2017

Strange But True!

Q. On an unnamed mountain and unexplored region of one of the greenest countries on earth, the scientists arrived by helicopter, feeling like they were “the first humans ever to pass the night there.” Why were they there?

A. Situated on Suriname's Grensgeberte Mountains on the border with Brazil, the 18 group members included ornithologists, botanists, “fish squeezers and snake grabbers,” all in search of new species, says science and nature writer Richard Conniff in Smithsonian magazine. As part of Conservation International, their goal was “to identify and protect biodiversity worldwide,” supported by a team tasked to transfer some 6,600 pounds of equipment by water or land to the remote site.